Will 2019 repeat the municipal election history of a “duel in a crowd”, at least in the mayoralty race?
In 2016, the mayoralty contest became more of a duel between Mavic Ballesteros and Helen De Castro despite the presence of three more competitors. De Castro won the election with Ballesteros coming in second with a narrow margin of around 2,000 votes. The third to fifth contenders lagged far behind garnering a combined votes of a little over 8,000 or half of the votes of Ballesteros.
For 2019, only three filed their certificates of candidacy but many consider the elections as between De Castro and Ballesteros. Reelectionist De Castro is running under the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) while Ballesteros will run under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). The third candidate, Vice Mayor Meo Gordola, will run under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) banner.
The vice mayoralty race, which will be opened because of Vice Mayor Gordola’s aspiration for the local executive post, will be between Chito Delmonte (NPC), Miguel Guarin (PDP-Laban), and Chito Hao (LDP). Delmonte lost to Gordola in 2016 vice mayoralty elections while Hao is an incumbent councilor.
The complete list of candidates is as follows:
For Mayor
- BALLESTEROS, MAVIC (PDP-Laban)
- DE CASTRO, HELEN (LDP)
- GORDOLA, MEO (NPC)
For Vice Mayor
- DELMONTE, CHITO (NPC)
- GUARIN, MIGUEL (PDP-Laban)
- HAO, CHITO (LDP)
For Councilor
- APOLONIO, JOPER (IND)
- AZUR, JOEFREY (PDP-Laban)
- BURIAS, ELMER (LDP)
- CORDIAL, BUDOT (IND)
- DOGILLO, TEODY (PDP-Laban)
- DOMASIG, DARYL (PDP-Laban)
- GERALDINO, JOJO (LDP)
- GERONA, SIMMY (IND)
- GERONGA, GUTO (NPC)
- GIBA, NALDO (PDP-Laban)
- GIDOC, ARNEL (LAKAS)
- GIGANTONE, RONNIE (LDP)
- GOGOLA, BOY (NPC)
- GOTLADERA, ULAP (NPC)
- GOYALA, ARIEL (IND)
- GOZARIN, BUYOG (LDP)
- GRANADO, ROGELIO JR. (IND)
- GUAÑIZO, TEDDY (IND)
- GUBAN, JOEY (NPC)
- GUELAS, TITO (LDP)
- GURAY, JERRY (PDP-Laban)
- HADAP, RENE (IND)
- MONFORTE, NEIL (LDP)
- MORATA, ETOT (PDP-Laban)
- PELAGIO, YAYA-DUB (NPC)
- PORRAS, ANDY (PDP-Laban)
- ROBLES, CHEZKA (PDP-Laban)
- VALERIANO, MARIZ (NPC)
- ZUÑIGA, EXCEL (NPC)
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Thank you for posting this Mr. Carizo. You said it right, the duel continues, for politics is about Amor Propio or Narcissism in the first place, not about Amor Publico or Amor por el Servicio Publico based on intrinsic political inspiration. Gone are the days of great political leaders and visionaries…now is the time for political mediocrity and psychopaths.
Wara na ngani akong nahihiling na statesman na politko hehe. Puros “atat man” bakong “statesman”.